I Vote Yes! Or, I Vote, Yes!

Do you vote in political elections?

I was an apathetic young person who didn’t think my vote mattered. So I never voted in any elections—until 1980 , when my college roommate, Peter Velz of Poughkeepsie, NY, turned me on to John Anderson. I became very excited by this independent’s candidacy. As I would later discover, independents usually create problems for other candidates, and so we wound up with Ronald Reagan.

But after that, I did vote regularly. In fact, in California, I worked the elections, and have a few stories to tell about that, such as how, in the primaries, the Communist party (yes, there was one) had red ballots, and how I could usually tell the Democrats from the Republicans by dress. I could also tell which ballot measures were conservative or liberal by the use of CAPITAL LETTERS which the right always used (unlike the left’s italics).

Until a few years ago, I always felt proud to vote. I’d make my selections, thank the workers when leaving, and feel like I had made a difference. But recently, all the talk of stolen elections and voter fraud has tarnished that feeling. I still vote, but my youthful enthusiasm is gone.

But I wont stop voting. A few years ago, I read the play, It Can’t Happen Here, an adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ novel of the same name. Of course, the message behind both novel and play is that it—fascism and an authoritarian government—can happen in the United States. And I’ll continue to vote to do my best to prevent that.

And as I have often said in Facebook posts, referencing The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian novel about a US theocracy: “I refuse to live in Gilead.”